


Don't Act So Tough, Princess

by traitorsinlove



Category: The 100 (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon, Canon Universe, F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-11-05
Updated: 2017-11-05
Packaged: 2019-01-29 16:56:53
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,549
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12635253
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/traitorsinlove/pseuds/traitorsinlove
Summary: I want to start off by apologizing to my followers… Life has been crazy and I haven’t been able to devote a lot of time to writing. I’m working on a multichapter Bellarke fic and a novel, as well as answering your prompts and requests. I’m sorry that I haven’t been super on top of the prompt fills, but I’m going to do my best to get better at it!I received two prompts on Tumblr that were similar so I decided to combine them into one fic. So… this is a 1x10 slight AU. Enjoy, my lovelies!Prompts: There is a deadly sickness traveling through camp while Bell is gone on a hunting trip. Clarke ends up catching it and Bellamy comes back from his trip.   -anonymous.    Season 1 Episode 10, when Clarke falls, Bellamy is the one to catch her instead of Finn… (Maybe they are already canon at this point too??) Thank you :)  -anonymous





	Don't Act So Tough, Princess

**Author's Note:**

> I want to start off by apologizing to my followers… Life has been crazy and I haven’t been able to devote a lot of time to writing. I’m working on a multichapter Bellarke fic and a novel, as well as answering your prompts and requests. I’m sorry that I haven’t been super on top of the prompt fills, but I’m going to do my best to get better at it! 
> 
> I received two prompts on Tumblr that were similar so I decided to combine them into one fic. So… this is a 1x10 slight AU. Enjoy, my lovelies!  
> Prompts: There is a deadly sickness traveling through camp while Bell is gone on a hunting trip. Clarke ends up catching it and Bellamy comes back from his trip. -anonymous. Season 1 Episode 10, when Clarke falls, Bellamy is the one to catch her instead of Finn… (Maybe they are already canon at this point too??) Thank you :) -anonymous

Bellamy had hated the idea of leaving the camp in the hands of Clarke and Miller. Not that he didn’t trust either of them—he did. But Murphy was back, and that fact made him antsy. Especially considering that both his little sister _and_ Clarke were back at camp with Bellamy’s guys being the only ones between them and the psychopath that was John Murphy.

But they were running low on food, so there was no question that Bellamy needed to head the next hunting party. So here he was, stalking through the woods with five others following close on his flanks. They had caught site of boar tracks about half a mile back and were quickly closing in on the herd.

Bellamy’s mind wandered back to Clarke. They had made amends and decided to work together, make the rules together. Bellamy would be lying if he said he wasn’t grateful and somewhat relieved to share the mess of running camp with Clarke at his side. She made things easier somehow. The hard decisions were still hard, but at least they were making them together.

The sharp snap of a twig broke Bellamy’s train of thought, and he signaled for the group to halt. His dark eyes scanned the mass of green before them for any sign of animal or human that might be a threat.

It felt as if the entire party were holding their breaths, waiting for a war cry or an animal to pounce from the dense flora that covered the forest.

Bellamy’s eyes slowly roved over the entire expanse before they froze on a dark figure, slumped in the tall grass. Bellamy signaled for the group to ready their weapons for an attack before examining the figure more closely.

As soon as the dark, matted fur of a boar became clear in Bellamy’s vision, he made the signal to attack, trusting his team to secure the camp’s dinner for tonight.

* * *

When the hunting party arrived back at camp, Bellamy felt his back go rigid with alert. Half of camp was missing, and the other half were wearing bandanas and rags as makeshift masks over their mouths.

“Miller,” Bellamy called to his righthand man as he took in the scene before him. “What’s going on?”

“Half of camp is sick. Some kind of virus that Murphy brought with him.” Miller shrugged, still half clueless to the illness.

“Murphy?” Bellamy clenched his jaw as the gears in his brain began turning.

“Yeah, I guess the Grounders decided that biological warfare was the next best thing,” Miller scoffed. “Guess they were right.”

“Where’s Clarke?” Bellamy asked without missing a beat. Miller did his best to hide his smirk.

“In the dropship. We’ve been keeping all the sick quarantined in there so she’s been a trooper taking care of them all. I don’t know what this thing is, but it spreads like wildfire. Almost as soon as they touch you, you get infected.” Miller answered.

Bellamy nodded, a feeling of pride swelling in his chest at Miller’s words. Of course Clarke was tending to the wounded. Not only was she the closest thing to a healer that they had at the time, but she was a servant to their people. That was one of the reasons that Bellamy lo—.

 _Don’t even think it, Blake._ He mentally scolded himself. He respected Clarke, cared about her wellbeing, but he didn’t need to be falling completely head over heels for the girl that had wanted him gone from the moment she laid eyes on him.

“Where’s Octavia?” Bellamy barked, worry building up in his gut when his eyes didn’t find his sister around camp.

Miller suddenly found his boots very interesting and sighed. “She’s in the dropship. She insisted that Clarke couldn’t keep up with all of the sick kids on her own so she volunteered to help.”

Bellamy opened his mouth to reprimand his second-in-command, but Miller beat him to the punch. “We tried to stop her, but Octavia is… stubborn.”

Bellamy couldn’t help but agree with that statement. The Blake’s were willful if they were anything, and he knew that his sister was a force to be reckoned with when she chose to be.

Before he could ask Miller any more questions, the parachute covering the door of the dropship rustled, and Clarke walked out, her gray shirt lightly splattered with blood and a rag in her hands.

Bellamy felt the air leave his lungs as soon as he saw her, telling himself it was only because she looked tired. But there was something more to it, even if Bellamy didn’t want to admit it fully just yet.

Clarke wasn’t just tired. There were red circles surrounding her eyes, her skin was more pale than usual, and the sheen of sweat that covered her brow drew Bellamy’s attention immediately.

He moved to walk towards her, but Clarke raised a shaky hand to stop him.

“You don’t want to catch this, Bellamy.” Clarke rasped, her eyes blinking slowly.

Bellamy’s eyes widened upon hearing that she was infected too, but he nodded despite the worry eating at his gut.

“You got enough food in there? Water?” He asked eventually, his voice and eyes relaying his worry.

“Yeah,” Clarke sighed, the corners of her mouth twitching slightly. “Some medicine might be nice.”

Bellamy felt his own lips tug up in a small smile. “I’ll see what I can do.” It amazed him that Clarke could crack jokes despite being infected with an unknown virus that may or may not have a cure.

Clarke gave him a quick smile before turning to re-enter the ship. However, Bellamy’s next words stopped Clarke in her tracks and filed her stomach with dread.

“Octavia,” Bellamy called. “You okay?”

Bellamy felt his gut clench when there was no reply from inside the ship. His eyes immediately flashed with indignation as they collided with Clarke’s drained eyes. She blinked blearily before sighing softly.

Bellamy stalked towards the ship, but Clarke’s voice stopped him.

“Bellamy, wait,” She called out before he could get too close. “She’s not here.”

Bellamy deflated, his eyes flashing with hurt before he clenched his jaw.

“I sent her to see Lincoln.” Clarke explained breathlessly, every word feeling more strained than the last.

Bellamy ducked his head in obvious distaste of that particular idea.

Clarke shook her head softly, hoping that he could see her side of things. “Look, if there’s a cure, he has it. I didn’t tell you because you were gone, plus I knew you wouldn’t let her go.”

Bellamy’s gaze hardened as he met Clarke’s eyes, his jaw set. “If anything happens to her, you and me are going to have problems.”

He promptly turned on his heel and marched in the opposite direction towards the main gate.

“Bellamy.” He heard Clarke call behind him, but he ignored it, quickening his steps.

“Bellamy!” He could hear the pleading tone and the exhaustion in her voice, but he kept walking. He needed to clear his head before he said something else to Clarke that he would regret later.

A kid stood stalk still with his back to Bellamy. This kid was the only thing keeping Bellamy from his solitary contemplation and the kid needed to move.

“Out of my way.” The older man ground out between clenched teeth.

Bellamy wasn’t prepared for what he saw when the boy turned to face him. Blood leaked in two thick trails down the boy’s face, his eyes bloodshot. Bellamy took a hasty step backwards before pointing to the dropship.

“Get to the dropship.” Bellamy ordered, but the boy made no move to go. “Now!”

At the older man’s harsh tone, the boy stumbled towards the quarantined ship, and Bellamy heard Raven from over his shoulder.

“Hey, you okay?” She moved to lay a hand on a girl’s shoulder before the girl collapsed from the virus. As she fell, she spat blood onto the face of a boy standing beside her.

That’s when the chaos erupted. Voices rose in panic and kids began jabbing their rifles towards the sick, urging them into the ship as quickly as possible.

Bellamy searched the crowd to make sense of the pandemonium but couldn’t. As more kids became more forceful, Bellamy took action to quell the mob.

“Hey, hey!” He called, waving his arms in front of a group of kids with their rifles armed and ready. “Calm down!”

 Clarke took in the scene of panic before her, realization and dread coiling in her gut. She turned swiftly on her heel and stalked into the dropship.

Bellamy jumped in surprise when the sound of two gunshots rang out through camp. He searched for the source of the gunshots, fearing the worst—that one of the kids had worked up the nerve to actually shoot one of the sick. When his gaze reached Clarke, he saw her with a rifle propped against her hip, fatigue hanging on her body. Despite the obvious tiredness she was feeling, Clarke walked forward.

“This is exactly what the Grounders want. Don’t you see that? They don’t have to kill us if we kill each other…” Clarke was interrupted by a young boy, aiming his rifle at her chest.

“They won’t have to kill us if we all catch the virus. Get back in the dropship!” He yelled, raising the rifle to show he wasn’t above using it on her. Before he could, however, Bellamy snatched the rifle out of the boy’s arms and efficiently butted him in the face with the stock.

The boy flew back, stumbling as blood poured from his mouth in crimson waves.

Bellamy and Clarke locked eyes, an unspoken gratitude hung in the air between them. Bellamy blinked before speaking.

“To state the obvious, but your quarantine isn’t working.” Bellamy murmured, fearing for the entire camp’s welfare if the virus couldn’t be contained.

Bellamy saw Clarke’s eyes glaze before rolling to the back of her head. He quickly threw his gun behind him before racing to catch her to prevent her head from colliding with the hard ground. Clarke lay unconscious against his chest, her head resting against his neck.

 _She’s burning up._ He thought to himself before carrying her into the dropship and laying her in an unoccupied hammock near the back. He gently brushed her hair away from her face, his thumb trailing across her temple.

He placed the back of his hand against her forehead and felt his pulse quicken in his veins. He did his best not to panic at the alarming heat radiating from Clarke’s skin.

He heard the parachute rustle from over his shoulder and glanced quickly to find his sister standing in the doorway.

“O!” He called, urgency filling his voice.

Octavia saw the worry on her brother’s face, and her brow immediately furrowed. She crossed the room filled with moaning, sick kids before taking in an unconscious Clarke.

“She’s burning up, O. We have to get her temperature down. We’ve already lost enough kids to this thing. I can’t lose her, too.” Bellamy would have been embarrassed had anyone else heard how desperate he sounded, but this was his little sister.

“Okay,” Octavia began, logic clouding her brain from assisting Clarke with all the sick kids. “The fever should break in a few hours. I’ll keep a cool cloth on her head, but there isn’t much else we can do. This thing… we just have to ride it out.”

“Lincoln didn’t have a cure?” Bellamy asked.

Octavia shook her head quickly. “No, this thing was designed to mortally weaken, if not to kill. The Grounders weren’t interested in having a cure around for their enemies to take advantage of.”

Bellamy nodded, accepting his sister’s words before standing and gently squeezing Clarke’s clammy hand.

“I’ll go get fresh water.” He muttered before stalking out of the mouth of the ship.

Octavia let out a huff before turning to the older girl. 

“Well,” Octavia arched her brow defiantly. “If there’s one thing that’s certain, it’s that you, Clarke Griffin, will not be dying on my watch. The last thing this camp needs right now is a distraught Bellamy Blake in charge, so you will be living to make sure _that_ doesn’t happen. Alright?” Clarke laid there, unmoving and unresponsive.

“Good.” Octavia nodded firmly before getting to work.

* * *

Bellamy stomped his way through the greenery that littered the forest floor on his way to the river, bucket in hand.

Concern for Clarke clouded his brain and heart, but he needed to focus on the camp as a whole right now. Logically, he knew that he couldn’t let himself be distraught and distracted by one person being sick, but he couldn’t help it.

This was _Clarke_.

He realized in that moment that he couldn’t do this without her, and the air rushed from his lungs. He was inspiring and great at stirring up a crowd, but leading on a personal and rational level… That required his blonde comrade, and he knew that in order to save camp as a whole, he needed to save Clarke.

As Bellamy reached the rocky bank of the river, he dropped to his knees and filled the bucket with the swiftly moving water, his mind sorting through what he needed to do.

Bellamy stood and began hauling the water back towards camp, determination and dedication replacing the worry and concern he had been flooded with only moments ago. He was still worried about Clarke’s health, but keeping things in order among camp would have been Clarke’s first move, and Bellamy needed to think like Clarke if he was to keep the peace and order while she was out of commission.

* * *

Clarke blinked slowly, her head feeling surrounded by a dense, gray fog. As she came to, a dark headed person slowly came into focus.

“Hey,” Octavia smiled softly. “How ya feeling?”

Clarke groaned softly as she sat up. “Sore, achy…” She coughed lightly. “Tired.”

“Sounds about right.” Octavia smirked, and Clarke could see the relief in her eyes.

Clarke’s brain began to go into medic mode, and a question was on her lips before she could really think about it.

Octavia saw the gears click in Clarke’s mind and she rushed to placate the older girl. “We didn’t lose anyone else while you were out. Luckily, this thing didn’t decide to take any more victims.”

Clarke sighed heavily with relief, closing her eyes briefly. When she opened her eyes again, a second dark head caught her attention.

Octavia followed Clarke’s line of sight over her shoulder and saw her brother passed out on a cot. “He’ll be alright. He’s been in and out of consciousness, but he’ll pull through. His fever broke about an hour ago, so he should be waking up anytime now.”

Clarke nodded, the rising concern in her stomach easing slightly.

“He was a real trooper, you know,” Octavia murmured, sharing a knowing look with Clarke. “He kept going back and forth between running the camp, making sure everyone was working, maintaining the quarantine as best he could… and checking on you.”

Octavia chuckled at Clarke’s look of surprise. “What?” The younger girl scoffed lightly. “Don’t tell me you’re that dense, Clarke. You’re a fierce leader who can perceive motives in Grounder tactics, yet you can’t tell when my brother has the hots for you?”

Clarke’s jaw dropped and her eyes went wide. “Octavia, there is no way that your brother and I…”

Octavia simply arched a brow at the older girl, effectively silencing her.

“Yeah, you keep telling yourself that, Clarke,” Octavia muttered as she rose. “See where that leads, but knowing my big brother, he’ll most likely wait you out until you come to your senses.”

Clarke’s eyes followed Octavia as she walked to check on Bellamy. Clarke released a breath she hadn’t realized that she was holding when he began to stir slowly. When he sat up, Clarke was alarmed to see dried blood from his nostrils and his eyes wide as they searched the room until his eyes landed on hers.

Clarke gave him a small smile and he nodded in return, relief evident on his face.

Bellamy stood shakily, his legs still weak from sickness, and crossed the room to sit beside her hammock.

“How you doin’, Princess?” He croaked, throat sore from disuse.

Clarke resisted the urge to roll her eyes. The nickname she had so _lovingly_ been bestowed was slowly beginning to sound pleasant to her ears. When at first a term of entitlement and mockery of her privileged status, now was more of a term of endearment and partnership.

“I’ve seen better days, even down here.” Clarke joked quietly.

Bellamy huffed a chuckle. “Yeah, me too. Just be glad you don’t have to run this camp without me, Clarke.”

Clarke felt herself rising to the bait before she caught the humoring glint in Bellamy’s dark eyes and smirked. “Yeah, that’d be a catastrophe. Wouldn’t want the Earth to be denied the presence of Bellamy Blake.”

“You got that right.” He flashed her a half-smile.

“I heard you were taking quite the workload while I was out.” Clarke commented, watching his reaction closely.

Bellamy clenched his jaw and squared his shoulders. “It was nothing.”

“You don’t have to act so tough, Bellamy,” Clarke murmured, her blue eyes boring into the side of his face. “It’s okay to admit that you were worried about the camp.”

Before Bellamy could stop himself, he replied thoughtlessly. “It wasn’t just camp that I was worried about.”

Clarke’s throat suddenly felt dry and she tried to swallow several times with no success. Eventually, she cleared her throat to speak.

“Still, you didn’t need to take on that much work. The heavy workload probably accelerated the virus spreading through your body.”

She was relieved when Bellamy didn’t press the point of camp not being his only concern during the outbreak. She was just beginning to even entertain the thought of Bellamy as an attractive individual, let alone _liking_ him. Plus, they had Grounders to worry about.

 _There’s always something, isn’t there, Griffin?_ She thought to herself.

“I’m fine now.” Bellamy smirked softly, his dark curls falling across his forehead carelessly.

“But it could have been a lot worse, Bellamy. You should have took it a bit easier.” Clarke insisted, her medical training coming to the forefront of her reasoning.

“But it wasn’t, Clarke. I’m still here, and I’ll be an even bigger pain in your butt once I fully recover.” Bellamy replied jokingly. Clarke pursed her lips thoughtfully.

Bellamy smirked. “Don’t act so tough, Princess. I can see that you’re still in pain. I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t, too,” Bellamy visibly winced as he gently stretched in his seat.

Clarke smiled softly. “You may be right.”

“So you finally admit it.” The playful glint had returned to Bellamy’s eyes, and it was beginning to give Clarke a light feeling in her stomach.

“I’ve admitted that you’ve been right before…” Clarke quickly defended.

“Kidding, Princess,” Bellamy rolled his eyes. “Relax.”

Clarke felt a bright blush race to her cheeks as she ducked her head.

Bellamy sighed deeply beside her before standing slowly. “Well, I should go check on the work outside.”

“No!” Clarke shrieked suddenly, alarming not only Bellamy but also everyone within their immediate proximity. “You need to rest, just like I do.”

Bellamy’s jaw clenched again and his gaze travelled to the dropship door.

“I don’t like the idea of doing nothing either, Bellamy,” Clarke spoke from over his shoulder. “But we have to think about what’s best for camp, right now. They need us to be at full speed and _soon_. We can’t do that if we’re working ourselves to death, literally.”

Her reason brought him back to the moment, and he knew she was right. Bellamy sighed before taking his seat once again.

“So, what do we do with all of this free time that we have to ourselves?” Bellamy arched a brow at the woman beside him.

Clarke smiled. “What was your job on the Ark?”

Bellamy smiled softly, recalling his life before his mother’s death. He launched into the entire story, his job, his sister, his mother, his life before it all went south, and Bellamy found that Clarke Griffin was probably the easiest person on Earth to confide in.

In turn, Clarke told him about her dad, her guilt, her life before being in solitary, her friendship with Wells, all of it. Bellamy hung onto every word, fascinated by the revelation that even the Privileged weren’t above the law—that him and Clarke truly were equals, in several ways.

As time crept on, they truly began to understand and know one another, and both were content with the excuse to simply sit, talk, and enjoy their time together.

Neither one were sure what the future would hold for them as leaders or the camp as a whole, but by the end of the night, they knew that they had reached a new level of understanding, a new agreement as partners, and a new layer to their relationship.

The latter sent a shrill of excitement through both of their veins, as well as another emotion that seemed so foreign now—hope.


End file.
